Good to Great Book Review
To transform a good company to great company is all manages’ dream, but only few of them make it. To find out the core factors which lead to a good company became a great company is very difficult, because in different era, different industry companies face different opportunities and threats. To begin the research for the Good-to-Great study, Jim Collins and his research team searched for companies that: performed at or below the general stock market for at least fifteen years; then at a transition point began to pull away from the competition, and sustained returns of at least 3 times the general market for the next fifteen years. He started with a list of 1,435 companies and found eleven that met his criteria. These eleven companies produced, on average, a return of 6.9 times the general stock market during the 15 years following the transition points. Collins chose a 15-year span to avoid "one-hit wonders" and lucky breaks. In the book, Collins highlights some important factors which are the result of the research. They are level 5 leadership, fist who … then what, confront the brutal facts, the hedgehog concept, culture of discipline, and technology accelerators, (Collins, 2001, p.12).
According to Wheelen & Hunger, strategic management “is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long-range planning), strategy implementation, and evaluation and control” (2004, p2). All eleven good to great companies are benefit from strategic management and gain long term strategic advantage then lead to outperforming compared companies.
The first factor is level 5 leadership. A leader is the soul of the company. Base on the research, every good-to-great company had level 5 leaders during the pivotal transition years. In the book, level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will (Collins, 2001, p.13). Darwin E. Smith is an example of lever 5 leasers. Smith transforms Kimberly-Clark into the leading paper-based consumer products company in the world within twenty years. Generated cumulative stocks return 4.1 times the general market, furthermore beating its direct rivals Procter & Gamble and Scott Paper. Level 5 leaderships’ ambition i...
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...gy not likes leader, concept, and culture; it is an accelerator for the company. Good-to-great companies used technology as an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it. None of the good-to-great company began their transformations with pioneering technology, yet they all became pioneers in the application of technology once they grasped how it fit with their three circles and after they hit breakthrough (Collins, 2001, p.162). Before become a pioneer in the application of the technology, we have to do the external and internal scanning to see is it the technology fit our long term strategic and hedgehog concept.
Generally speaking, Good-to-Great are base on six major factors: leadership, staffing, information, concept, culture and technology. All these factors drive the companies good to great. Without a doubt, this is a must read for anyone in business, running a business or starting a business.
Reference
Collins, J. (2001). Don’t Good to Great – Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Wheelen T.L., & Hunger J.D. (2004). Strategic Management and Business Policy
(9thed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
The characters in Beloved, especially Sethe and Paul D are both dehumanized during the slavery experiences by the inhumanity of the white people, their responses to the experience differ due to their different roles. Sethe was trapped in the past because the ghost of the dead baby in the house was the representation of Sethe’s past life that she could not forget. She accepted the ghost as she accepted the past. But Sethe began to see the future after she confronted her past through the appearance of her dead baby as a woman who came to her house. For Sethe, the future existed only after she could explain why she killed her own daughter. She insisted on explaining the reason why she killed her daughter to the grown-up woman Beloved because Sethe felt guilty. Before Sethe could tell Beloved the reason why she was killed, Sethe felt guilty for going on with her life. She felt guilty in starting a new life without the dead baby. Sethe did not want her dead baby to think that Sethe killed her because of
Good to Great by Jim Collins is a book which illustrates an answer for the question whether a good company can turn into a great company. In this book, Jim Collins suggests the ways by which companies can outperform the market leaders. The author has certain list of companies like Abbot lab, Circuit city, Fannie Mae,Gillette,Kimberly Clarak,Kroger,Nucor steel, Philip Morris,Pitney Bowes,Walgreens and Wells Fargo. According to author good is the enemy of great and thatis why have little companies which are great. The author says that the transformation from good to great does no just happen. It needs to be built through process which with three broad stages. Jim Collins suggest some components in a company to have it achieve great levels
In Beloved the post slavery life greatly divides the family. Sethe, the mother, has given up on life due to her two boys leaving her, one of her daughters dying and her moral support, Baby Suggs, dying. The daughter, Denver has become reclusive because the town shuts the family out and she does not have any siblings or a mother who can honestly love her. An old friend from Sweet Water, Paul D, also has some demons of his own. Paul D somewhat tries to fill the moral backbone that Baby Suggs left, but he cannot fill it because his own experiences prevent him from having a level mind at certain points.
In Beloved, Sethe’s journey from enslavement to freedom is explained. Although she is physically free from the bondage of slavery for 18 years, but is still haunted by the terrible recollections of it as it is clear when one day, after many years , Paul D, a former and the last of the male slaves to survive after their escape from Sweet Home, the plantation in Kentucky, where Sethe was also a slave 18 years before, comes to visit Sethe and stirs up memories and its effects of her past which have been tried hard to bury and suppress.
In Beloved, Morrison tells a tale that brings the unordinary family that is Sethe, Paul D, and Denver together despite tough times. “Beloved” is a ghost that oversees each character individually and challenges them to face their past and move on. The result of Beloved’s actions is that each protagonist learns how to face the past, and is able to look life in the face when it seems pointless. Beloved’s return heals Sethe by bringing the past to the present and helps Sethe move forward as shown by the character’s ability to realize her past mistakes and correct them. Without Beloved’s presence Sethe would not be strong enough to forgive herself for her past mistakes. However with Beloved’s presence Sethe shows persistence as a character to be better, additionally her newly formed family helps Sethe become liberated from her haunting past.
With many people trying to start their own business, only a few know what it takes to make the leap to become great. Some companies have the ability to become great, but they don’t know how to utilize what they already have.. In the Jim Collins’ novel, “Good to Great,” he does research on a variety of companies to discover what the successful ones are doing and what leads them to such success. According to Nohria, Joyce, and Robertson’s article, “What Really Works,” the company’s strategy, performance-oriented culture, and the talent of the employees are all important aspects of what it takes for a company to improve. They also promote the idea of focusing on finding new innovations that can potentially transform their industries. Nowadays,
Strategic management is the set of managerial decision and action that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long range planning), strategy implementation, and evaluation and control (Hunger & Wheelen, 2011). In this report I will do research about the strategy of Marriott International, Inc. I will give advise on how Marriott can improve their strategy and I will come up with an advisory strategy.
Though Sethe believed she had escaped the miseries of the Sweet Home plantation at her arrival of Ohio, she is unable to, after the arrival of Paul D, and her repressed memories worsen after the arrival of Beloved. Both Paul D and Beloved are symbolic figures of Sethe’s past, as she continues to relive the tortures she trusted were left in her past. One of the most eminent elements of Morrison’s novel is the transition from the past to the present, as stated by Morgenstern, “Returns repeatedly to scenes of traumatic separation [...] what might be called the primal scene of slavery” (Naomi Morgenstern, academic.uop). The transition from the past to present, and lack of chronological order illustrates the utter chaos and destruction of slavery within two generations, “Through Sethe’s description of a traumatic past [...] Morrison suggests the notation of an African American population continually imperiled, not so much physically as psychically, by the history of slavery” (George Sheldon,
In the book "Good to Great" Jim Collins identified eleven companies each of them having average returns for fifteen years, followed by the phase of transition and gains of three times the market trend. The author tried to separate and document some of the management philosophies which can be fundamental in affecting such accomplishments. There is a small minority of the companies in the United States that have managed to face the negative growth and turn it into exceptionally positive growth. The evolution from "good to great" is not the matter of a single day, but requires a long transitional period of the change. Jim Collins in "Good to Great" provides many very useful tips on how to reach the success in business and accomplish long term goals for development and growth.
CEO Johnston also has plans to bolster the company’s leadership with the best minds available and also use motivational techniques to invigorate his employees. These ideas show the character of the CEO in enhancing productivity from his work force.
Books like Beloved help the audience imagine the horrific events during slavery. In the novel Beloved, Toni describes the tragic crimes that were executed throughout her writing (Heinze 127). The novel relates to the five years before and the decades that following the Civil War (Sova Social Grounds 69). Beloved takes place after the Civil war during a time called the Reconstruction period (Atwood 6). In 1873 there was a house numbered 124 on Bluestone Road in Cincinnati, Ohio, which had lost most of its residents because of fear (Sova Social Grounds 69). At the beginning of the novel the setting takes place at Sweet Home Plantation in Kentucky, when Baby Suggs, Sethe’s mother-in-law had been deceased for nearly a decade (Atwood 6, Sova Social
Beloved begins in Cincinnati during 1873 at a house on 124 Bluestone Road, a house said to be haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s baby daughter. Here the ex-slaves Sethe and her daughter, Denver live. Baby Suggs, Sethe’s mother-in-law, also lived here until eight years before the story begins when she passed away. Shortly before Baby Suggs death, Sethe had to sons living in the house with her, but ran away following an encounter with the ghost. On the day the story begins, an ex-slave from Sweet Home, the plantation that Sethe escaped from eighteen years prior, named Paul D is waiting for her at her house. Upon entering the house however, Paul D feels grief wash over him and Sethe explains that is the ghost of her daughter. After some time,
Krames, JA. (2003). the Best CEOs know: 7 Exceptional Leaders and Their Lessons for Transforming Any Business
What I benefit from this course strategy management class is knowing. The strategic management is consisting of the analysis, decisions, and actions an organization undertakes to create and sustain competitive advantages. strategic management analyses. concern with overall objectives, involves multiple stakeholders, incorporates short and long term perspectives, recognizes tradeoffs between effectiveness and efficiency. The strategic management analysis, formulation, and implementation the challenge managers face of both aligning resources to take advantage of existing product markets as well as proactively exploring new opportunities.
Strategic management is the way of implementing different business strategies and plans to attain certain specific aims and objectives. It involves collection of decisions and different rules and policies that tend to define the results that are generated in the form of better business performance. For undertaking these activities, management should possess an in depth understanding and be able to assess the general and competitive external and internal business environment to take proper business decisions (Cornelis, 2010). McDonalds is an organization that offers a range of products and services in a very effective manner that makes it a market leader in providing fast food services all over the world. By enforcing suitable strategies, McDonalds can increase its level of sales and will also help in upgrading as well as sustaining the market by acquiring competitive advantage (Schoenberg, Collier and Bowman, 2013).